Manoj A.K vs State Of Kerala And Ors

This is an appeal preferred under Section 14A(2) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, hereinafter referred to as the Act, canvassing the correctness of the order dated 30.12.2020 of the Sessions Judge, Ernakulam, who is the Special Judge for the trial of cases under the Act, whereby a petition filed by the appellant under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Code was dismissed.

The appellant is the second accused in Crime No. 1060/2020 of Puthencruz Police Station, which was registered alleging offences punishable under Sections 323, 324, 326, 354, 354B, 376(1), 307 and 114 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 3(2)(v) of the Act. The alleged incident had occurred on 02.08.2020, at 11.10 a.m. The victim is a 75 year old lady belonging to Scheduled Caste community. The place of occurrence is the residence of accused 2 and 3. The second accused/appellant is the son of the third accused. The precise allegation is that the third accused enticed the septuagenarian lady to her house, where the first accused committed rape on her. That is the first part of the crime. It is alleged that when the appellant reached home, he found the victim lying on a cot in a room; seeing her, he unleashed an attack on her with a kitchen knife causing her very serious injuries; knife attacks were inflicted even on the vagina of the victim, consequently she suffered serious injuries and had to be in hospital for 32 days, sustaining 24 injuries.

The crime was registered on the basis on the First Information Statement given by the daughter of the victim. All the accused were arrested on 04.08.2020 and since then, the appellant is in judicial custody.

The learned counsel for the appellant submitted that there is no allegation of rape against the appellant, the co-accused have been released on bail, that his name is not in the First Information Statement, even though the victim is his immediate neighbour. According to the learned counsel, he is prepared to abide by any condition imposed by this Court while granting bail.

The learned Senior Public Prosecutor has vehemently opposed the application. According to him, even though the appellant is ranked as the second accused, he is the main accused. He had caused very grievous injuries on the victim, even her private parts were not spared and that the victim and her relatives are afraid of the outcome of trial in the event of granting bail to the appellant.

As per the mandate under Section 15A(5) of the Act, notice was issued to the victim, but she has chosen not to appear in these proceedings.

After the dismissal of the earlier Crl. Appeal No. 952/2020 by judgment of this Court dated 07.12.2020, the appellant moved the trial court again and by the impugned judgment dated 30.12.2020, his application was again dismissed by the trial court.

Even though the allegations against the appellant are very serious, at this pre-trial stage, in my view, there is no point in keeping him in judicial custody indefinitely. It has come out that the charge sheet has already been laid before the trial court. Similarly, by judgment dated 19.02.2021, the first accused, Muhammed Shaffi has been released on bail. The third accused, the mother of the appellant was granted bail by the trial court itself on 04.12.2020. The prosecution has no case that the appellant has any criminal antecedents. He is in judicial custody for more than 215 days from 04.08.2020. Even though the allegations are very serious, considering the above stated aspects, I feel that there is no harm in granting bail to the appellant, by allowing this appeal, imposing stringent conditions. Thus the appeal is allowed and the appellant shall be released on bail on the following conditions:-

i) The appellant shall execute a bond for Rs.1,00,000/-(Rupees One Lakh Only) with two solvent sureties each for the like sum to the satisfaction of the trial court; one of the sureties shall be a near relative of the appellant;

ii) He shall not enter Puthencurz police station limits, till the disposal of the Sessions Case charged against him;

iii) He shall not try to contact or influence the witnesses or tamper with evidence;

iv) He shall not involve himself in any crime during the period on bail;

v) He shall surrender his passport before the trial court within seven days from the date of release;

vi) He shall appear before the trial court as and when required;

vii) He shall strictly abide by the various guidelines issued by the State Government and the Central Government with respect to keeping of social distancing in the wake of Covid 19 pandemic;

viii) If any of the above conditions are violated by the appellant, the trial Court shall be at liberty to cancel the bail, in accordance with law.

The Criminal Appeal is allowed, as above.